Email has seen a rebirth due to the explosion of data and marketing technologies. The old playbook is increasingly obsolete and new ways of utilizing the channel are emerging. Are you still attached to an older way of thinking about email? Let’s find out… If one of the 1960’s Mad Men had access to email as a marketing channel, it would likely end up… Read more »
The following blog post was written by Movable Ink. Customer data is the key to relevant marketing, and intelligent content is making personalization more accessible than it’s ever been. And while customers generally love to see content that’s tailored to them, there can be a huge disconnect is that content isn’t executed correctly. People don’t always realize that their taps, clicks, and cookies are creating a… Read more »
Over 28% of brands are at least a little dissatisfied (sometimes a lot dissatisfied) with their email service provider (ESP). That’s not a great number. But when you consider the complexity of the ESP selection process, it’s also not too surprising. There are literally hundreds of email service providers. As a result of this massive ESP ecosystem, finding the right fit for your brand’s… Read more »
BrightWave is a technology agnostic agency that works with virtually all of the major marketing clouds and email platforms, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud to enhance customer relationships. Our experience has given us a unique insight into how the Google Analytics 360 integration enhances the Salesforce Marketing Cloud offering as detailed below. Last fall, Salesforce and Google announced a partnership integrating Google Analytics 360–… Read more »
Buzzword warning: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Your ears pricked up a little, didn’t they? And no wonder. What makes machine learning so appealing is the idea that a computer can help make the optimization decisions that a small or overwhelmed marketing team cannot. Better results and increased ROI with reasonably less effort? Yes, please. Every digital marketer knows they want it (need it!)… Read more »
Emarsys recently launched their “Marketer + Machine” podcast series, which focuses on how to become a better marketer by leveraging technology. We were excited when BrightWave President Raj Choudhury was asked to kickoff the series as its first guest. Raj’s session— which you can find below— explores how technology and the delivery of marketing communications has largely become a commodity. All too many marketers start… Read more »
Is there a total subscriber number you have been chasing, but has been elusive? Could your email program have a churn problem? Yes, I said the dreaded word, ‘Churn’. More specifically, is it a ‘whole email program’ churn problem or is it a ‘specific customer segment’ churn problem? Every brand has customer segments. Some are easily identified while others can be more difficult to… Read more »
Emarsys offers valuable marketing insights from industry leaders in their “What I Want Marketers to Know” series, including CEO Simms Jenkins. From the biggest challenge marketers face to how technology is revolutionizing their roles, read the full interview to find out what advice Jenkins has for the digital marketing community.
When BrightWave client Char-Broil needed to find an email service provider (ESP) just as innovative as their cooking products, they turned to their email agency of record. In turn, we partnered with Emarsys to consolidate Char-Broil’s multiple existing data sources and continue collecting and organizing future customer data. To get the highlights on the collaboration, take a look at the infographic Emarsys created below. To… Read more »
From time to time, we like to dig into our own inboxes to get a fresh perspective on what’s happening in our industry in real-time. Pushing aside the buzzwords and hype allows us to see what the real marketers behind real brands are sending. This week, we didn’t have to open a single email to spot one trend – the value of the from name…. Read more »
If you aren’t doing some level of reporting on your email program, you are doing it wrong. Whether it’s a raw data data export or highly complex aggregated report, what is often missing is the real meaning of the numbers. During a session at our annual conference this year, EiQ: The intelligent email gathering, one panelist put it perfectly when she said, “A number… Read more »
As strategists, we often find ourselves walking the line between innovation and reality. “Good strategy is grounded in realistic execution,” is a quote my teammates have heard me say one thousand times and I stand by its validity. Shiny new things are often at odds with the cold hard truth of a rigid budget, SOW or small team with limited resource availability or time constraints,… Read more »
In our continued series on Edge of the Inbox and inbox innovation, we look at progressive profiling which is a concept that is typically associated with a form-based lead collection activity, using site interaction points to help collect data. This methodology can also be readily supported by email strategy and campaigns aimed at explicit or implicit info gathering. By leveraging engaging and non-traditional campaign… Read more »
For the modern complex email program, documentation is essential. Not only is it useful for onboarding new team members and sharing historical knowledge within your group, it’s necessary for conveying why certain campaign decisions were made and why the strategy was executed the way it was – especially to clients. Buy-in is essential and documentation is a critical component of such. Yet, documentation is… Read more »
Jumping into the world of email marketing is daunting. Email terms, best practices, emerging technology, and platforms can be overwhelming. Luckily, I had BrightWave and a whole bunch of email nerds to teach me the ways of email marketing (not to mention the stellar sessions at EiQ). Here are some of the things I have learned in my first month of email marketing:… Read more »
Gmail has long lead the pack as it relates to innovation in the inbox, much to the chagrin of marketers. Gmail is an inbox for the consumer, not the marketer, but more often than not, the updates represent minimal change to the way we execute our programs. Over the years Google has given us priority inbox, tabs, Inbox, and grid view – all updates aimed… Read more »
Design Thinking is an important component of software development with immediate application to the building of marketing communication messages – especially email campaigns. Any effort to move people through a set of distinct experiences (software, marketing, etc.) can benefit, which is why Design Thinking is finding application beyond the limited world of software development. At its core, Design Thinking seeks to meet two critical… Read more »
400 attendees. 43 speakers. 9 sessions. 2 new awards. And a whole lot of #emailgeeks love. What an incredible 2018 EiQ! When we first set out to disrupt the email industry through a new conference, my expectations were a bit modest. But after two years of bringing together over 700 people to focus on innovation and performance, the sky is the limit. Here’s what… Read more »
BrightWave CEO Simms Jenkins and CPO of Bark.us/Atlanta entrepreneur Titania Jordan will reprise their roles as EiQ co-hosts tomorrow at the 2018 conference. In addition to the many hats they wear for EiQ, Simms has been an email industry leader since founding BrightWave back in 2003 and Titania currently serves as the host of the NBC affiliate WXIA television show Atlanta Tech Edge. Even with… Read more »
Mary Abrahamson is one of those rare souls who has always specialized in email marketing. As such, we knew we had to have her on stage at EiQ 2018. She’ll be presenting with Paige Farrow from Char-Broil, BrightWave’s own Andrea Short and several other email experts during our much anticipated “What NOT to Do If You Want to Make It Big in Email” session…. Read more »
I couldn’t ask for a better strategic partner than BrightWave. Open rates are up. Click-through rates are up. Our emails look better than ever. And, for the first time, we have an email marketing calendar that aligns with our other initiatives.
